Big Brother 17 has come to a close with as big a finale night as we could have imagined. As we say goodbye to the season let’s look back over some of the summer’s top moments.
Boiling down 98 days of Big Brother craziness is never easy or comprehensive, but here are some of our favorite moments and biggest events that made up BB17.
10) Big Brother Takeover is Taken Under
After just 3 weeks, well more like 2.5 weeks, the Takeover twist went fizzle and vanished after those odd Gronk Parties leaving Houseguests scratching their heads wondering what happened to much hyped intrusion to the season. Even back home we didn’t know much of what was going on after CBS said it’d be there “every week” but with so much going on, was it ever really missed?
Same goes for that “fan favorite” Battle of the Block. Luckily this one went away quickly too after producers introduced its unwelcome return. Producers later admitted it was used to build hype in to Sunday’s shows but luckily they found better ways to do that. I’m hoping that was the last we’ll see of the twist that always seemed backwards to me.
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9) Hinky Votes
Preseason I had planned to ask the Houseguests about their willingness to do a hinky vote but scrapped it from my interview questions since they’re usually such a rarity. Well I misjudged that one.
Every season fans hope for some votes that aren’t unanimous. This season delivered. Audrey, Liz, and Steve all threw hinky votes which caused drama that is still being discussed among the Houseguests. Let’s see more of this, future Houseguests!
8) Audrey Goes Undercover
Audrey Middleton started out the season as one of the big standouts with incredible promise of drama as she worked over her fellow Houseguests as the unofficial pot stirrer of the season. Sadly it looked to be a case of playing too hard too fast and it all caught up with her. Even more disappointing was how her final days played out.
I had expected Audrey to go out with bang and give us an incredible show, but instead things went south. Audrey decided instead of fighting to stay she’d just let the wave of eviction take her. She grabbed a blanket and hid underneath for days on end while breaking nearly every Have-Not rule on the books. She ate food, took a hot shower, and slept on the floor. It earned her one penalty vote for the food, which she later blamed on Becky tricking her. Perhaps biggest of all was her no-show at her own Veto meeting where she was renom’d in absentia. Now that was a first.
Once her stay was over Audrey took it all in stride though and had a good time poking fun at her own reactions that week. Blanketing became her “thing” and we saw it show up in the comics comp and even as a cake pop at the end of the season. She definitely made her mark on the season and we were sorry when she was gone.
7) Da’Vonne Busts The Twin Twist But HGs Let Them Stay
When the Twin Twist was first introduced in BB5 they snuck right past the Houseguests after weeks of swapping in and out of the game. Not this time and not on Da’Vonne Rogers’ watch.
In only the second week of the season Da’Vonne recognized the noticeable differences in the Nolan twins’ appearances and behavior. Soon word spread and the last people to know ended up working the twist the best. Austin and Vanessa had a huge benefit of the extra vote during the bulk of the run, though both ended up evicted in lieu of the players they were determined to protect.
I was shocked when the HGs decided to keep kicking the can on targeting the twins while it was still a two-for-one eviction sale, but instead of fearing the unbreakable bond of twin sisterhood enough of the HGs embraced it and the sisters survived their vulnerability. Kudos to the twins.
6) Endurance Competition Mania
I love me some endurance competitions and Big Brother 17 delivered. Last season we lost two-thirds the season’s opportunities for endurance to that “fan favorite” Battle of the Block, but that went away quickly this season and was replaced by awesome competitions. If production was looking for a better way to increase hype for their Sunday shows then using the cliffhanger comps on Thursday nights was the way to do it.
We saw new mini-endurance comps like the Ready Set Go! challenge and some updates on familiar ones like Under The Rainbow. I’ll always vote for a more difficult challenge like either of those over a quick run of seven questions deciding the entire week’s fate, but maybe that’s just my preference.
Also noteworthy was the brains behind a lot of the challenges, Heath Luman, taking to Twitter and fielding input on the challenges and what sort of things fans would hope to see. It was refreshing to see that sort of attention and interest paid to fans when there is silliness in other departments of production like calling BotB a “fan favorite.” I’ve got my fingers crossed for more awesome comps next season too.
5) Becky Makes a Big Move, but Vanessa Makes A Bigger One
Watching from home we knew Vanessa was the big target of the season, but it wasn’t until Becky took over as HoH that anyone seemed willing to do something about such a major threat. Unfortunately for Becky, she seemed to be the only one too concerned.
After receiving promises of support and encouragement from her new allies, the Goblins, Becky not only renom’d Vanessa but made it clear she was the target and going home. Hold up. Maybe not. After a quick frantic panic Vanessa collected herself and went to work. Following an entertaining showdown in the backyard with Becky Vanessa worked fast and flipped the Goblins to keep her in exchange for their chance at finally getting out Shelli.
Vanessa was a sitting duck and she convinced James and Meg to let her fly away instead. Suckers!
4) Vanessa’s Word Is Good… Good For Feeds Gold!
Was there anyone else more dramatic or consistently entertaining on the Feeds than Vanessa? She was all over the place and the most reliable source of tears but it worked to her advantage by making the other HGs afraid to challenge her for fear of facing the wrath.
We saw fight after fight where Vanessa confronted her opponents for doing exactly what she was more quietly doing and then they were gone. John caught on to it and soon became a target. Becky caught on and was immediately her target.
So what about those tears? In her backyard interview on finale night Vanessa swore to Jeff they were all real tears and blamed her emotions on hormones and being a woman. Well, I dunno. I thought it was just effective strategy but Vanessa doesn’t want to take credit. All the same, she was the first drama we saw on the debut night of Feeds and she was there to see them out all the way to the end. Feeds Gold.
3) Austin’s Blindside
Fantastic. We rarely get blindsides and this one delivered especially well with the season finale just days away. All the pieces came together when John agreed to send the decision to Vanessa, Austin’s F2 ally since the start of the season and she made the shocking cut.
Austin hadn’t so much as put shoes on his feet after feeling so confident he’d skate on by and Steve would walk out the door. Vanessa knew better though when it came to dealing with that showmance and she made the obvious choice of pulling her own Judas. There could be only one eviction bigger than that.
2) Finale Night Eviction
Everything came down to one last question. It was a half-million dollar guess for Vanessa and Steve as they were tied in the third round of the Final HoH competition. Steve came out victorious and made the move he had prepared himself to do: evict Vanessa.
As the front leader of the season it was clear that Vanessa would win if she made it to the end and Steve saw that too. Vowing to not repeat Cody’s mistake from last season Steve cast the last eviction vote of the season and sent Vanessa out the door to join the Jury.
Houseguests talked for months about evicting Vanessa and she nearly made it all the way to F2. Instead Steve earned himself an extra $450,000 and eliminated the biggest player of the season. It was a huge move and won him the entire game.
1) Season of Unpredictability
As with any season there were the cries of “worst season ever!” but I thought this one was fantastic from start to finish thanks in big part to outcomes remaining unpredictable until the last minute on so many occasions. In past years we knew who was being evicted as soon as the Veto Ceremony ended on Monday. This summer things were still in flux on Thursday afternoons! Even the finale was uncertain going in to the final comp.
The Houseguests kept us guessing in part with surprise moves and partly with knuckleheaded decisions, but boy did they deliver. With that I have to give the top spot of the season to the entire season and the Houseguests together. Thanks for keeping us on our toes!
What made your Top 10 list for Big Brother 17? Share your thoughts!